Neoliberalism is a toxic economic dogma that has serious social and political consequences. In Britain and the US, mainstream media have a long record of selling neoliberalism to the public and political lawmakers. Recall Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher’s slogan, “There is no alternative” (TINA). As I document in my new book, Real Fake News (Red Pill Press), elites throughout history have always used information to control the thoughts and actions of the public. But the modern project has stretched itself to the limit, and people are starting to say No.…Fake news is perception management through narrative control, reality being a function of perception. When most of one's reality is not experienced directly, which Bertrand Russell called "knowledge by acquaintance." Rather, it is shaped by testimony, which Russell called "knowledge by description."
Knowledge by description is heavily influenced by authority. When authoritative sources are corrupted, perception strays from reality, which cannot endure in the long run. Truth will out and is victorious eventually. But deception can go on a long time before events that are experienced contradict "authoritative" reports.
Take, for example, the mainstream’s fake news about the crash. Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism at Oxford University published a report on mainstream media coverage in the US and Europe. The authors found that one of the goals of big businesses, which rely on PR firms that often hand copy to journalists, is to perpetuate a “narrative of normality,” in which their greed is kept out of public view for as long as possible. As the authors put it, “no news is good news.” When a crisis does occur, the task is perception management.
“[S]tories originate from six main categories of sources,” the researchers found: from journalists, corporations, analysts, authorities and politicians and shareholders. Notice that unions, activists, alternative currency purveyors and dissident academics are not included. They can be found in the alternative online media and are thus at risk of being labelled “fake news” by the powerful. “When excluding the ‘default category’ of journalists, most of the information in news stories about the banking crisis comes from banks themselves.” Indeed, more than half came from financial institutions. “On average 52% of all information comes from banks, another 18% from analysts/experts.”…Renegade, Inc.
How Fake News Perpetuates Neoliberalism
T. J. Coles | postdoctoral researcher at Plymouth University’s Cognition Institute and the author of several books, including Real Fake News
See also
RT
Tanks on Maidan, president’s gold bath & more outrageous Ukraine fakes by disgraced Spiegel reporter
DW (Deutsche Welle)
Opinion: Truth is the first casualty of Claas Relotius
The Guardian (UK)
Der Spiegel to run 23-page special on reporter who faked stories
See also
RT
Tanks on Maidan, president’s gold bath & more outrageous Ukraine fakes by disgraced Spiegel reporter
DW (Deutsche Welle)
Opinion: Truth is the first casualty of Claas Relotius
The Guardian (UK)
Der Spiegel to run 23-page special on reporter who faked stories
AFP
2 comments:
. Recall Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher’s slogan, “There is no alternative” (TINA).
Yet, where is MMT's alternative to government privileges for the banks?
Oh yeah, Warren Mosler's proposals to INCREASE* government privileges for the banks. /sarc
*
1) No limit (e.g. $250,000 per account) to government-provided deposit insurance.
2) No limit to the amount a bank can borrow unsecured from the Central Bank at 0%.
RT: “One wonders just how outrageous ‘fake news’ must be in order to get busted.”
One can get away with almost any lie as long as it serves the Empire and the establishment.
However a liar can be tripped up if he steps on the wrong toes, as Claas Relotius probably did at Der Spiegel. Maybe he was doing his boss’s wife.
Russia-gate, the Skripal hoax, the Assad gassing hoax, the 9-11 “Arabs with box cutters” hoax, the “war against ISIS”™ hoax, the “we killed Osama bin Laden” hoax – you name it. All are Gospel truth. To question these “truths” is to blaspheme. All blasphemers are “conspiracy theorists.”
Occasionally a hoax gets exposed (e.g. the Kuwaiti “incubator babies) but this has no effect on the endless flow of lies.
The Guardian: Der Spiegel to run 23-page special on reporter who faked stories
The Guardian? Commenting on faked stories? The Guardian? Pusher of Russia-gate, the Skripal hoax, and various “Assad gassing” hoaxes, plus hoaxes against Wikileaks? The Guardian, which purged John Pilger in 2015 for being too truthful?
Good one!
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